Sunday, June 28, 2015

Confronting the Evil Among Us

By Rudy
Barnes, Jr.

This
website has often addressed the evil of religious hatred and violence,
especially between Muslims and Christians; and there are striking similarities
between the evil of religious hatred and violence and that of racism. Racism is an ugly
reality that continues to plague our nation, but until the recent church
massacre in Charleston it appeared that racial violence was a thing of the
past.That assumption must now be
reconsidered.

The
horrific acts committed by Dylann Roof at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston on
June 17 left us in shock, sorrow and shame, wondering how to confront this
old/new evil among us. There is no
evidence that Roof was part of a racist hate group. He appears to be a lone wolf, a dysfunctional
and demented man whose evil acts were self-motivated. There have been similar mass murders in our
nation, but the fact that Roof was part of our community haunts us. How do we confront this evil that is among
us?

We
hear calls to restrict the sale of guns and to remove the Confederate flag from
the front of the State House. Those
public actions may be justified, but they are not likely to counter the evil
that motivated Dylann Roof, who fits the psychological profile of other mass
murderers who are primarily motivated by a demented and narcissistic need for
personal glorification and who kill to bring public attention to
themselves. According to Ari Schulman,
the way to stop them is to deny them publicity (see Notes below).

If
Roof’s crime is evidence of a resurgence of racist violence among young white
men, which seems unlikely, our response should be similar to that for
countering religious violence. Racists who are likely to commit violence must
be identified, monitored and apprehended before they commit violence, much as
the FBI identifies and monitors suspected Islamist terrorists. But that is especially difficult since racist
websites allow self-radicalization without personal contact with known racist
groups. For racists who are not likely
to commit violence, efforts should be made to mitigate their racism through
biracial discussion groups, both religious and secular.

The
same principles of dialogue that can reconcile religious differences also apply
to race relations and other divisive issues that polarize society. Evil originates in the fear and suspicion of those
unlike us, and unless people who feel alienated from others are willing to relate
to them seeking common values, their negative attitudes can metastasize into
hate and violence. Both faith and reason
are needed to counter the evil of hate, first with acceptance and
accommodation, then seeking reconciliation.

There
are bookstores and social media sites that promote racial and religious division
and hate, and the freedom of speech allows such activities; but it also allows our
condemnation of such hate speech as immoral.
At the very least, publicizing hate-mongers who incite racial or
religious violence puts law enforcement on notice of the danger posed by them. Texas police recently thwarted mass murder by
two armed radical Muslims at an event sponsored by Pamela Geller, who is noted
for her hate speech and inciting anger among Muslims.

Some
question whether evil exists as a dark and divisive spiritual power that
competes with the reconciling light of God’s love. My life experience has convinced me that evil
does exist and that we are in a cosmic battle between the forces of good and
evil. That dualist concept is questioned
by many theologians; but it is prevalent in Christianity, especially in the
Gospel of John, where it is symbolized by the contrast between light (God’s
love) and darkness (evil).

Love
is the antithesis of hate, and it is made the moral imperative of our faith in the greatest commandment to love God and
neighbor and in the new command to love one another. The Evangelist John equates God with love
and states that fear is the enemy of love (I John 4:16-18). Love reconciles and redeems us as children of
God, while Satan uses fear and hate to divide and conquer us. Unfortunately, Satan does a convincing
imitation of God, and does some his best work in the synagogue, church and
mosque.

Our
moral obligation to reconcile and redeem others as children of God should not
be confused with converting them to Christianity. The Gospel of John provides a mystical
concept of the unity of all believers
(John 17:20-23) that transcends all religions.
Reconciliation and redemption come to all who follow the Logos, or word of God, as personified by
Jesus in John’s Gospel (John 1:1-14). When
Jesus says I am the way and the truth and
the light (John 14:6) he is calling people to follow him as the word of
God, not to worship him as a surrogate Christian god. The second part of that verse—No one comes to the Father except through me—has
done more to divide us than reconcile us when used to support exclusivist
Christian doctrines.

It
is easy to say that we love our neighbors as ourselves—even those neighbors that
we don’t like (see the story of the good
Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37)—but it is difficult to apply that moral
imperative of faith in everyday life. How
can we love a person like Dylann Roof? Only
in the context of loving all others,
and that requires protecting them from dangerous people like Dylann Roof. That principle of love provides the ethical
foundation for self-defense and justifies our police and military forces. Our criminal laws and system of justice protect
the public from those who would do them harm.
They are instruments of our love for others, and enable us to confront
the evil among us, which comes in human form.

On
June 22, Governor Nikki Haley provided an example of how politicians can
confront the evil among us. Surrounded
by politicians of all stripes—Democrat and Republican, black and white—she recounting
the events and emotions in Charleston following the church massacre and, to the
cheers of all present, she called for removing the Confederate flag from the
State House grounds. Governor Haley’s
eloquent speech emphasized that when Satan’s power of evil is sown among us it can
be countered by God’s powers of forgiveness, love and reconciliation.

Notes
and References to Resources:

See Blog/Archives for related blogs: Religion and Reason, posted December 8, 2014; Religion, Violence and Military Legitimacy, posted December 29,
2014; The Greatest Commandment,
posted January 11, 2015; Is Religion Good
or Evil, posted February 15, 2015; Jesus:
A Prophet, God’s Only Son, or the Logos? Posted April 19, 2015; and Moral Restraints on the Freedom of Speech,
posted May 17, 2015.